Craig's Screening Room: "Sex Tape"

2.5

Submitted by Craig Younkin - Movie Room Reviews on 2014-07-18 13:35

Out of all the sex tapes out there, it’s pretty depressing that I ultimately ended up paying to see this one. “Sex Tape” isn’t terrible (it would be pretty hard to make a completely unfunny sex comedy) but watching this thing unfold you feel sorry for the performers just the same. Mediocrely scripted by Kate Angelo (“The Back-Up Plan”) and (sadly) also Nicholas Stoller and Jason Segal (“Forgetting Sarah Marshall), it’s about former sexual dynamos Jay (Segal) and Annie (Cameron Diaz) realizing that marriage and kids have completely ruined their sex life.Something must be done. Luckily Annie has a tank-top, a pink bikini, roller skates (Diaz still looks great btw!) and a mother willing to take the kids for one night, but still watching them try to re-ignite the passion is a bit like watching Tom Hanks try to build a fire in “Castaway”- lots of wood, no spark. The sex tape idea is a way to spice up the romance, only they don’t expect it to accidentally get leaked to everyone in Jay’s network of friends. Annie and Jay’s attempts at regaining the spark has some funny bits and later watching the actual sex tape has a few “ohhhh” moments but their quest to get the tape back results in hi-jinx like Annie doing cocaine with her boss (Rob Lowe, doing his best to be eccentric and liven up the scene), Jay being chased by an attack dog, and most implausible of all, them breaking into a facility to destroy a server, all of which never really strive for a pay-off. Rob Corddry and Elle Kemper do ok in comic relief roles and Diaz and Segal troop through it firmly ready to debase themselves for a laugh if need be (and if you want to see if they’ve got back, there is bare-butt a-plenty here). Just “Sex Tape” seems more like comedic set-up, without actually getting to the laugh part.